Collard Greens and Potatoes...In One Dish!

When I first saw a recipe for collard greens and potatoes in one dish, I thought 'OMG some non-Southerner is messing up collard greens...again'.  After all, who would put this together.  Just because collard greens are one of the new 'in' vegetables doesn't give you permission to mess 'em up. 

This recipe did have a few things going for it.  It was from Deborah Madison, a chef well known for her work with vegetables.  It contained that 'b' ingredient - bacon.  If it was really bad, I could at least pick out the bacon.  And finally, I had collard greens in the garden.  I could afford to 'mess up' a few. 


Collards with Potatoes

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

2 bunches collard greens or a mixture of collards and kale
3 medium potatoes, preferably Yukon Gold
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 or 4 slices of bacon, diced 
2 Tablespoons olive oil
½ onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Hot pepper sauce or vinegar for the table

Directions:

1.  Remove the tough center stem.  Slice greens crosswise into ½-inch strips.  Wash in several changes of water.  Drain.  Set aside.  (This can be done ahead of time.  Refrigerate until ready to cook.)

2.  Wash potatoes and cut into about 1-inch cubes.  Set aside.

3.  Bring about 8 cups of water to a boil.  Add about 2 teaspoons of salt.  Add greens and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.  (This will change depending on the toughness of your greens and how tender you like your greens.)  Add potatoes and cook for about 7 to 10 minutes. 

4.  Meanwhile, cook the bacon until crisp.  Remove bacon and set aside.  Pour out all but one tablespoon fat.  Add the olive oil.  Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook for about 1 minute. 

5.  Drain greens and potatoes.  Add to onion mixture.  Taste and season with salt and pepper, if desired.  Stir occasionally.  Cook until water evaporates. Add bacon.  Taste and re-season, if necessary. 

Final Thoughts

It was good!  I was pleasantly surprised.  As I tell my students, keep an open mind.  You won't know if you like it until you have tried it. 

Vegetarian Soul Food...You Kidding?

Vegetarian and Soul Food?  Now is that an oxymoron or what?  I just could not believe it.  Now I can see vegetables as a central part of the soul food diet, but no meat.  I had issues with that. 

While discussing soul food with a colleague, she mentioned the book, Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry.  I had heard of the book, but did not pay a lot of attention to it.  After all, vegan and soul food do not go together, at least not in my mind.  I always tell my students to keep an open mind and try new things.  Be careful of what you tell students.

I decided to give this book a try.  I was skeptical, very skeptical.  Upon examining the book, I found a few recipes that sounded interesting.  One was Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux.  My colleague assured me this was a good recipe.  Since she has good taste, I decided to try this recipe first. If she was wrong, I basically would loose a little time and some good collard greens would be lost. 

To say that I was surprised at how good these collards tasted, is an understatement.  They knocked my socks off.  They are a touch sweet, with none of the bitterness typically found in brassica vegetables.  I used freshly squeezed orange juice.  I think you need freshly squeezed with this recipe.
This recipe most definitely will be made again at my house. 

Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux

Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients:

Coarse sea salt
2 bunches collard greens
2 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions:

1.  To prepare the collards, start by removing the large rib from the center.  Lay several leaves together.  Roll up and cut into a chiffonade. 

2.  In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add one tablespoon salt.  Add the collards and cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened.  Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards.

3.  Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens.  Drain and set aside.

4.  In a large saute pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium.  Saute for one minute.  Add the collards and salt; stir to combine.  Sprinkle raisins on top and cover to allow raisins to soften, about 3 minutes.

5.  Add orange juice and cook for an additional minute or so.  Do not overcook.  Collards should still be bright green.

If you have a favorite soul food recipe that you have altered, we'd like to hear about it.

Results of the Collard Green Throwdown

The first ever collard green throwdown is over!  Too bad that you missed it!  My colleagues and I enjoyed our share of collard greens, mac 'n cheese, cornbread, and iced tea.  Everything was quite delicious.

I am not sure if Amanda will ever prepare collard greens my way, nor I hers.  However, it was fun to try another method and I gained a higher level of respect for a different way to make a dish that I consider mine.  I believe that being open to new ideas is always a good thing.  Culture should not only be preserved, but shared.  So, on that note, we accomplished our goal.

When southerners prepare greens, they never use a recipe.  They are cooked by taste and personal preference.  For that reason, the list and amount of ingredients are not exact.  Salt may need to be adjusted according to the saltiness of the neck bones.  Instead of ground pepper, pepper flakes can be used or dried pod.  If you don't quite like the first batch of collard greens that you prepare, keep trying (besides greens are very nutritious).  As with most things you get better with practice.  The same is true for Asian style cooking.

If you decide to try collard greens, here are my Southern Collard Greens and Amanda's Asian Style.  Below the recipes are pictures on how to cut and wash the greens.

Southern Collard Greens

Ingredients:

1 pound collard greens

About 4 smoked neck bones, depending on size

⅛ to ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

⅛ to ¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ to ¼ teaspoon seasoning salt

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, cover neck bones with about 2 cups of water.  Cook until tender.

2. Remove the main stem of the greens.  Slice diagonally into 1/2 inch wide slices.  Wash greens in at least two changes of water.

3. Drain was much water from the washed greens as possible.  Place greens in saucepan with neck bones.  Cover with lid and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.  Stir and add the seasonings.  Continue to cook until greens reach the desired degree of doneness.

**Southerners will sometimes add condiments to their greens.  Chopped onions, chow chow (pronounced "cha cha" by Southerners), and hot pepper vinegar are common addition to greens.  These are usually added at the table.

Collard Green Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

1½ Tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1teaspoon ginger, finely minced
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 pound collard greens
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce (more or less to taste)
⅛ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Remove main stem from collard greens.  Stack leaves on top of each other and roll them into a cigar shape.  Cut across greens into 1/2 inch strips.  Wash greens well and drain off water.

2. Add oil to a saute pan over medium high heat until oil is hot.  Add ginger and garlic and fry for 30 seconds (or until fragrant).  Constantly move ginger and garlic with a spatula to keep them from burning.

3. Add washed collard greens to the pan.  Move the greens around in the pan until the greens are wilted.

4.  Add red pepper flakes, vinegar, soy sauce, and black pepper.  Cook for 3-5 minutes longer.  Taste the greens and add more of any ingredient according to your preference.

How to Cut and Wash Collard Greens

Beautiful Collard Greens



To remove the stem, take a paring knife and strip the leaf on each side of the stem



Then snap the center of the stem with the paring knife to remove it 

Stack the leaves and roll them into a cigar; cut across the leaves into ½  inch strips

Wash collard greens at least two times to remove dirt

Washed and cut collard greens ready to be cooked!

Collard Green Throwdown

I like collard greens. I grew up in the South and disliking collard greens was not an option. Collard greens have been a staple of the southern diet since the beginning of time.

My family prepared collard greens in the typical southern fashion, that is, fat back (called salt pork by city folk) or ham hocks. Until recently, this was the only method I had heard of. But collard greens and soul food have ‘come up’ in the world. Recently Saveur magazine did an article on collard greens and the many ways to cook them (http://bit.ly/fVdlVt).  It seems that people in other parts of the world have their own ideas about cooking collard greens. Even though I am partial to my version, I enjoyed reading about other methods.

You are probably wondering what all this is leading to. My student recently told me that she would like to learn to cook collard greens my way. She currently cooks them the Asian way. So, I challenged her to a collard green throwdown. This Thursday we will be cooking collard greens two ways – The Asian way and the Southern way. If you happen to be at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln anywhere near Ruth Leverton Hall, please stop by room 206 at 10 a.m. You may participate by voting or bringing your version of collard greens. Next week we will post the recipes for both methods.